So 2010 is coming to a close, and man, what a year it was for music.  These next few entries will chronicle my personal favorites from the year– first the Top 25 individual songs, then the Top 10 albums.  There are dozens of entries I would have loved to discuss but couldn’t fit in.  To save space, any songs without official videos are links instead of embeds.

25.  The Army You Have, “See You in November”

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Conservatives’ music has long been stuck in the Lee Greenwood model of “Let’s make this the most epic, patriotic tearjerker song evarrr!” and has stagnated for decades.  When we dare to quit preaching to the choir, the result is often a low-rent parody with hacky buzzword lyrics.  This year, The Army You Have bucked that trend, featuring a lineup of Bigs writers fronted by Gary and Shelli Eaton.

“See you in November” is a modest, light-hearted power pop tune that’s more subversive than it lets on; it’s a generous helping of wiseassery in response to the steaming bottomless pit of dumbassery known as the “F*ck Tea” movement.  It’s emblematic of the sea change occurring in conservatism today; progressives are the Man– stuffy and overbearing, scrambling to control the minutiae of others’ lives– and we are the snide, rebellious punks.  “SYIN” was a song of the moment, a perfectly snotty and righteously angry anthem for the Tea Party; even though we’d been disfranchised by the media and actively smeared by know-nothing pundits, our overwhelming vote could not be ignored on election day, and The Army You Have was serenading us all the way to the polls. (more…)

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In the “old days”, a.k.a. “a few years ago,” multiple obstacles of various size and difficulty stood between your music/message and your potential audience.  In order to make any real headway, you had to be signed to a major label that was interested in promoting you heavily.  Someone made sure you had the right clothes, the right hair and the right sound.  If, however, you had the Right point of view (outside of the country music scene), keeping it to yourself was probably the right thing to do.  Oh, how the times are changing.

As we now know, the term “New Media” doesn’t just apply to journalism.  YouTube and other video sites have provided a platform for all points of view.  It’s the artist’s job to attract traffic and bump that view count.  The advent of social networking sites has made connecting easier.  So easy, in fact, that even non-professional protest types can manage to connect for the occasional event, shindig or soiree.

It used to be a one-way street.  Only the major artists could get their message out in any effective way.  Not long ago, President Obama sailed into office on the pleasant breeze of Will.I.Am’s viral video campaign.  The Left dominated the entertainment world and that’s all there was to it.  In many ways, that’s still true.  They have the money, the access and a willing and compliant media.  That’s changing, too. (more…)

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Yes, Yosi’s still out there working to make the world a progressive paradise, but that’s cool because it’s not on our dime. Good on ya, Yosi. We conservative types like the First Amendment. 

Don’t know what I’m talking about, my friends? Go here, here, and here . 

But this song isn’t just about Yosi Sergant. It’s also an ode to Mr. Patrick Courrielche, a very brave man 

Shortly after the song “Yosi Needs a Hug” debuted on The Stage Right Show, I had a couple of opportunities to hang out with Patrick and it proved to me, once again, that the Left doesn’t get us. They have no idea who we Conservatives are or what we’re all about. But the silver lining is they have no idea what’s coming.  (more…)

When I was “voluntold” to write a song about Yosi Sargent and the NEA scandal, I went into my studio, wrote the song “Yosi Needs A Hug” and laid it down. 

When the story broke that a woman, ACORN activist Bon Bon Hurd, was caught on tape admitting that she and her comrades had basically gotten Obama elected, my wife, Shelli and I went in the studio and laid down “Bon Bon.” 

When it was “suggested” that Retracto the Correction Alpaca needed a theme song, Michael Broderick, Shelli, a diva alpaca and I went into the studio and knocked out “Retracto’s Theme.” 

And most recently, when the Agenda Project launched their astroturf “F*ck Tea” campaign with a video featuring Lily Allen’s song, “Fuck You,” Michael, Shelli, Boris Zelkin and I recorded “See You In November”: 

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(more…)

Some of you may follow my work on BigJournalism.com, but for those of you don’t, see here.

“Retracto”

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Credits:

Shelli Eaton- Lead vocals
Michael Broderick – Lead guitar, background vocals
Gary Eaton – Guitar, bass, drums, tambourine, background vocals
Retracto - Vocals
Music and lyrics by Gary Eaton

Retracto

The ass says he doesn’t have a horse in this race
But Retracto knows he does now he’s got egg on his face
The donkeys on the left got owned by a kid
They can say it was a crime but Retracto knows what he did

Retracto
The Correction Alpaca
Retracto
He’s comin’ at ya (more…)

Fellow Big Hollywood contributor Moxie and I have been in the process of developing a radio show over the past couple of months.  Over the course of the development and rehearsal process, we’ve been focusing much attention on the NEA Conference Call story and the fall-out associated with it.

One of our ongoing segments has been to read aloud (in suitably dramatic fashion) Yosi Sergant’s twitter feed.  (It really is quite entertaining).  It became such a popular segment with the handful of friends who listen to our practice shows that Moxie decided we needed a “Yosi Update” theme song.  She “Volun-Told” our friend and musician, Gary Eaton to write the diddy and within twenty four hours he had completed his masterpiece.

We hope that you, our the loyal readers of Big Hollywood, who are well-versed with the players involved in this story, will appreciate our “Yosi Update” song:   (more…)